


Holy Touch

by Senjogahara_Appreciator



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Boy Feelings, College, Emotional Baggage, Epilogue, M/M, Rarepair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 03:56:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18683650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senjogahara_Appreciator/pseuds/Senjogahara_Appreciator
Summary: In college, Kyotani's not any more put-together. A chance encounter with Nishinoya has the potential to turn him around.





	Holy Touch

Nishinoya feels free when he's running. Getting up early is automatic, but everyone else is asleep, so that's when he runs. It's five in the morning. The morning chill glances off the heat surging through his body, blood coursing, heart steady, every footfall is a springboard that takes him higher. His music is propulsive, and it pushes him up, up, up, until he's flying. He feels like he could sprout wings any second.

The bat is perfectly balanced in Kyotani's hands. He takes a couple practice swings, savours the sound of it cutting through the air, then does it for real. Eyes closed, voice roaring, he puts everything into his swing. The storefront's window shatters into glittering fragments, and for a second the world is frozen, he's taken away from his frustration and pain, he and his destruction make a perfect pair. The store's alarm goes off but he doesn’t hear it. He only wants that, so he does it again. The second one is even better, so he does it again. But by the time he's six windows deep, he's not getting away from anything, he's just thinking about how bad he wants it again. He's looking at his own reflection in the glass, and he doesn’t hold back when he swings.

Nishinoya sees Kyotani kneeling on the ground with a bat, sees the shattered window and hears the alarm. He remembers the old Kyotani, the one with so much anger, the one who had no idea how much work Oikawa did to complete him. It's been three years since then. They'd seen each other on campus before, but Kyotani had always looked away. Now Kyotani is staring at Nishinoya and feeling indignance. He remembers their matches, remembers how much work Nishinoya put in to stop his team, and hates being seen in such a pathetic state. Nishinoya has stopped. He's just standing there, standing at Kyotani, and Kyotani feels so judged that he can't take it. He stands up and hurls the bat at Nishinoya.

Nishinoya feels the breeze as the spinning bat soars past his head and clatters in the street behind him. He can't believe Kyotani, but suddenly he can. Everything's so clear. Kyotani needs help, but therapy won't cut it right now. He plants his feet and shouts with everything he's got.

"OUT! THAT WAS WIDE, MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRRR!"

Kyotani bolts and Nishinoya takes off after him. Kyotani doesn't know why he's running, he just knows he doesn’t want to be near Nishinoya. Nishinoya smiles like he's found a running buddy, but runs like he's chasing down prey.

Twenty minutes later, neither of them know where they are, but Kyotani knows that he's worn out. His legs have given up. No matter what he does he can't shake Nishinoya. He's on his back, staring up from the grass, sucking down air. Nishinoya is straddling his torso.

Nishinoya's faking anger. He pretends to shake, clenches his fists, gives Kyotani an artificial animalistic stare. He brings up all his memories of frustration. It's easy. A distorted image of his past is right in front of him. But in truth, he can't be mad. He can see exactly what's going on with Kyotani. He hauls off and smashes the dirt next to Kyotani's head.

Kyotani is ready for the pain, ready for blood, but he's not ready for what he gets. After a moment, he opens his eyes and sees Nishinoya walking away from him. He sits up and calls out.

"HEY!" 

"What?" 

"You're not gonna kick my ass?" 

"What good would that do me?"

Kyotani falls back into the grass and doesn't get up for a while. He remembers everyone he pushed away, everyone that hates him now, and he remembers Oikawa, the last person that saw the good in him. Maybe not the good. The purpose, at least. He thinks about Nishinoya's fist, and his unbroken nose, and how it doesn't make sense, and how Nishinoya looked so calm walking away from him, and he wishes he could just get up and run after that bastard but he's long gone by now so he might as well just lie here forever. Nishinoya is the only person who's surprised him since elementary school. Everyone else runs away from him, except Oikawa, who at least found a way to use him. 

He doesn't know how long he lays there, watching the sky turn from night to twilight, listening to birds chirp and thinking himself in circles. It's long enough that Nishinoya comes back with a shopping bag full of protein bars and sports drinks and sets it down next to him. Nishinoya sits cross-legged in the grass, his gaze piercing through the sunrise, and waits.

Sitting up is the hardest thing Kyotani has ever done. Sitting up feels like casting the die that will shape the rest of his life, because he might never get a chance like this again, but he doesn't dare trust anyone not to run away, even Nishinoya, the only person to reach for his hand like this since Oikawa.  _ Can I let myself be put in that position again? Can I risk that much pain again? Can I really summon up the strength to rely on someone else again? _

Nishinoya's patience is rewarded with an unreal sight. Kyotani's tears fall from his open, furious eyes, running down his temples, dripping into the grass below him. His silently snarling lips reveal clenched, grinding teeth. His hands cover his face as he screams without sound into the sky, arching his back and writhing in the dirt. He curls into a ball, shaking like he'll freeze to death, biting at his own hands until they're red and bleeding, clawing at his own face. He silently cries himself to stillness.

In the distance, dogs are barking. A mosquito lands on Kyotani's leg, so he kills it. He admits a deep breath and lets it out slow.

Kyotani pushes himself out of the dirt, snatches breakfast out of the shopping bag, and sits next to Nishinoya, cross-legged in the grass.

Nishinoya permits himself a glance in Kyotani's direction, and sees the same cruel face he remembers, flushed from crying. He gets an idea.

"Let me see your shoes. And your phone."

Kyotani takes off his right shoe and hands it and his phone to Nishinoya. Nishinoya peeks under the tongue, sends himself a message from Koytani's phone, then stands up. 

"I gotta go to class. Tell me where you live, alright?" 

* * *

  
  


Twelve hours later, Kyotani is woken up by a message from Nishinoya. He crawls out of bed, yanks on shorts and a t-shirt, and opens his front door to find Nishinoya waiting with a shoebox, smiling. Kyotani tries on the new sneakers, runs a circle around his front yard, gives them a couple test jumps, then takes off past Nishinoya up the street. Nishinoya doesn't hesitate to follow, cackling, straining to match Kyotani's lightning pace, chasing him down again. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks as always to [Nixiie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nixiie) for the unconditional support and the edit pass!


End file.
